Syntheses of Strychnine, Norfluorocurarine, Dehydrodesacetylretuline, and Valparicine Enabled by Intramolecular Cycloadditions of Zincke Aldehydes

A full account of the development of the base-mediated intramolecular Diets-Alder cycloadditions of tryptamine-derived Zincke aldehydes is described. This important complexity-generating transformation provides the tetracyclic core of many indole monoterpene alkaloids in only three steps from commercially available starting materials and played a key role in short syntheses of norfluorocurarine (five steps), dehydrodesacetylretuline (six steps), valparicine (seven steps), and strychnine (six steps). Reasonable mechanistic possibilities for this reaction, a surprisingly facile dimerization of the products, and an unexpected cycloreversion to regenerate Zincke aldehydes under specific conditions are also discussed.